Chapter 3

The next day, Ethan came to me holding a baby.

"Sophia found this boy when she was volunteering at the orphanage today. He should have been born on the same day as our daughter."

"I feel like it's fate, so I named him Lucas Sterling and plan to raise him under your name."

I spoke softly, soothing my daughter, and glanced at the baby boy.

"Some random kid from who knows where, does he deserve to be raised by me? Send him back to the orphanage."

"Olivia, how can you call Lucas a random kid?"

"You're a mother yourself. How heartbroken would his parents be if they heard that?"

Sophia's eyes welled with tears. She clung weakly to Ethan, feigning fragility, and coughed a few times at just the right moment.

Ethan immediately wrapped her in his arms, soothing her, then kicked over a table and roared at me:

"Olivia, when did you become so vicious? You can't even tolerate a child!"

I covered my daughter's ears, casually saying:

"If I raise him today, then tomorrow everyone will throw their unwanted pets at me. Am I supposed to raise them all?"

Especially since this one was a viper.

In my previous life, I devotedly raised and loved him for over twenty years, only to be poisoned to death by him.

Sophia's tears were about to fall. She looked at Ethan despairingly.

Ethan immediately took her hand and promised:

"The Sterling family is not hers to command. Don't worry, Sophia, I'll adopt Lucas and raise him by your side."

I couldn't be bothered with their little show and went into the room with my daughter.

"I need to rest, you two can leave."

Looking at my daughter's rosy, adorable sleeping face, my heart was full of joy.

Just as I was celebrating successfully protecting my daughter in this life, the door was suddenly kicked open.

Ethan rushed in, grabbing my neck, his eyes bloodshot as he growled:

"Olivia, why did you throw Lucas downstairs?"

"He's just a baby!"

I coughed violently, squeezing out broken explanations from my throat:

"I, I didn't..."

"Who else but you would harm a newborn baby!"

He ignored the fact that I had just given birth and dragged me out by the hand.

I couldn't keep up and fell to the ground.

Rough pebbles scraped my calf, leaving a long bloody trail.

At the hospital, Sophia was sobbing uncontrollably, tears streaming down her face, holding the unconscious baby.

"Olivia, I know you don't like me, but why would you try to hurt Lucas!"

The doctor said anxiously, "This child has a deep cut on his thigh and is losing a lot of blood. The hospital's blood bank isn't enough right now... I remember Mrs. Sterling and the child have the same blood type."

Sophia fell to her knees in front of me, tears gushing down her face:

"Olivia, please save Lucas, I'll do anything you want!"

Ethan lovingly helped her up, then backhanded me across the face.

"Bitch!"

A metallic taste spread in my mouth.

My postpartum abdomen began to cramp again. I bit my lower lip, my voice barely a whisper:

"I didn't do it, and I won't admit to something I didn't do."

Ethan gritted his teeth, kicked my knee, and dragged me in front of the doctor.

"Olivia, if you're unwilling, then we'll use your daughter's blood."

He immediately called home:

"Mr. Davies, bring the young mistress to the hospital."

All the blood in my body instantly froze. I stared at him in disbelief.

There was no tenderness in his sharp eyes, only a ruthless desire to get revenge for Sophia and her son.

I scrambled and crawled to my knees in front of the doctor, unhesitatingly rolling up my sleeve to expose my arm.

"Don't touch my daughter, I'll do it."

I had five bags of blood drawn. When the needle was pulled out, I was close to passing out.

A clap of thunder split the sky, and rain poured down.

I stumbled out of bed, tried to hail a cab in the street to go home and check on my daughter.

But I found my daughter crying uncontrollably, burning with fever.

I cried out, calling for an ambulance.

But the operator regretfully stated:

"I'm sorry, all doctors today have been called to treat the young master of the Sterling family."

"Even the hospital gates have been sealed, and ambulances can't get out."

Holding my daughter, I ran wildly through the rain.

The hospital lobby doors were tightly shut, only the lights were on.

I cried as I pounded on the doors, my fingers almost breaking, blood dripping onto the ground, mixing with the rainwater to form a pool of blood.